AW Reporter:
A Rohingya woman was found dead along Bangladesh border on Thursday, April 13, at a boat ferrying Rohingya migrants from neighboring Myanmar, and leaving 4 others injured.
The border authorities of Bangladesh came under fire just after midnight and shot back at 2 fishing trawlers along a river dividing Bangladesh from Myanmar’s westernmost state of Rakhine, the lolcal police said .
“The BGB (Border Guard Bangladesh) later found the boat anchored at a river island. One woman was found shot dead and four were injured,” Mainuddin Khan, the police chief in the Bangladeshi border town of Teknaf, told AFP. The dead woman and at least 3 of the injured men were Rohingya, he added.
The head of Teknaf’s government-run hospital, Iskandar Mirza, said the bullet-ridden deceased woman was identified as Jahida (50) wife of Kalu Mia from Maungdaw Township, and the wounded four were identified as boatman Mohammed Shafique (25) son of Abdul Gofur from Shaforirdive, Mistry Fara Mohammed Kashim (80) son of Mogbul Ahmed, Mazuma (50) wife Ali Zuhar and Tayubur Rashid all from Maungdaw, where military crackdown has been in force since 9th October last year, following an attack on three police outposts.
There is contradictory reports of which side the firing over the boat came from as sources are available of firing from border security forces of both Bangladesh and Burma.
An un-varified report came saying that a ferry boat loaded with 13-15 Rohingya including women to Burma from the jetty of Shaforirdip of Teknaf. After reaching Naikhodia Island into Burma territory, the BGP forces suddenly opened fire on the boat where five passengers were hit bullets. On the gun fires , the boat captain turned the boat and came back into Bangladesh territory to save lives from gun firing of Border Guard Police of Burma. The Border Guard Bangladesh(BGB) rescued the passengers when it reached the Bangladesh territory and the wounded victims were rushed to Teknaf Hospital for treatment.
Another report of different daily News papers said that BGB has fired on the boat when illegally tried to influx into Bangladesh territory after denying to their warning . According to the report, stating the reference of Lt. Col Abuzar Al Zahid of BGB battalion of Teknaf, BGB fired 17 rounds of bullets during the incidence.
Some 75,000 Rohingya refugees have entered Bangladesh since October, when government forces in Myanmar unleashed a bloody crackdown on the Muslim minority.
Many recalled horrific stories of villages being torched, relatives burned alive and the gang rape of women by security forces.
Most headed to Cox’s Bazar, where overcrowded displacement camps have been housing Rohingya refugees fleeing persecution for decades.
The sudden influx in recent months prompted Bangladesh to resurrect a controversial plan to relocate refugees to an undeveloped island in the Bay of Bengal.
The UN rights council has agreed to investigate allegations of rape, murder and torture against the army, though Myanmar has denied its troops have been waging a campaign of ethnic cleansing.
Myanmar denies citizenship to most of the million-strong Rohingya in Rakhine, despite many living there for generations. ##
